Russia, Turkey in talks over loan to Ankara for S-400 systems deliveries

The Finance Ministries of Russia and Turkey are in talks on a possible loan for Ankara so that it could pay for the deliveries of S-400 air defence systems, CEO of Russia's Rostec Corporation Sergey Chemezov said Thursday.

In September, Moscow and Ankara reached an agreement on the delivery of the former's S-400 systems to Turkey. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin later confirmed that Turkey had made an up-front payment for the missile systems, adding that the delivery was scheduled for 2019.

"Possibly, yes [there are prospects]. Now we speak about a loan ... The [Russian] Ministry is engaged in negotiations with the Turkish Finance Ministry," Chemezov said, answering a question on the possibility of the deliveries.

The official added that the Russian side was ready to deliver the S-400s, adding that the talks were about the sale of the equipment to Ankara, not about their production on the Turkish soil.

The S-400 Triumph is Russia's mobile surface-to-air missile system that can carry three different types of missiles capable of destroying aerial targets at a short-to-extremely-long range. It is designed to track and destroy various types of aerial targets, from reconnaissance aircraft to ballistic missiles.